The Grandfather Paradox
by selmak
Summary: What happened if Samantha Carter had met her father back in August 1969?
1. Default Chapter

_**The Grandfather Paradox**_

**_Synopsis:_** Result of a Plot Bunny - In the episode 1969, Samantha meets her own father.

**_Rating:_** PG-13 Cursing and Swearing

* * *

Samantha Carter

It was the most trite science fiction cliché ever, I had always believed. You go back in time, accidentally shoot your grandpop dead before he had procreated your parents, and you were then doomed to disappear in a sudden POP, as though a large bubble had just burst.

Or would you disappear slowly, as though some Cosmic Eraser was busy expunging your very existence?

But what happens if during your inadvertent tour on the Time Travel Magic Bus you end up meeting your own father?

Thanks to Lt. George Hammond, yes... that was **_Lieutenant_** George, not **_General_** George Hammond; we had enough money to buy clothes and food.

Lieutenant.

Unfortunately, he was wearing his hat, so I couldn't find out what he looked like when he had a full head of flaming red hair. For a moment, I had been giddily tempted to order the Lieutenant George, not the General George, to remove his hat, so I could see it. Would his bright auburn hair have been already receding?

Fortunately for my rapidly fraying sense of self-control, the young Lieutenant had the no-nonsense, piercing blue eyes of his older stern self.

There's no way I'd ever ask the General to remove his hat to view his dome, so therefore I didn't ask the younger George.

He was actually kinda cute way back then...I mean... now... in a commanding officer – same age as my father - type way. My self-control was fragmenting again as I sternly chastised myself to focus on the problem at hand. We were in the past, and we had met, by some strange galactic, chronological coincidence, the only man who could help us get back. Those thoughts led to others... Hammond was in Colorado. And so... where was my father? My father never really mentioned how well he knew George Hammond. An astringent comment about them serving together when the Air Force had been the First line of Defense in the Cold War had been my first realization that the two of them knew each other better than just being at the same level of the food chain.

Hammond wouldn't admit where the two of them had met, claiming the statute of limitations hadn't expired... but... I barely remember living in Colorado when I was very young, flashes of remembrances based on the large, shaggy dog that we had once owned... a tree house... Was the younger me in Colorado now?

And if so... where was Mom?

* * *

Jacob Carter

Hitchhiking home. What a stupid thing to do.

I should have waited for the bus. Especially when it was August 1969, and everyone hated the military. But I wanted to get home to see Anne and the kids. Two tours of 'Nam, and I was home.

_**Finally.**_

Seemed so easy. Hitchhike a few miles, grab the bus and I'd be home. I tried to be nondescript. But my ram-rod posture and my crew cut named me for what I was – military.

Slouching over a cup of bitter coffee, I tried to fade into the background of the diner, waiting for my inedible meal to arrive, but the long haired hippies, the beatniks desperately in need of a bath and the peace loving pacifists had found me and the abuse started anew. I ignored them, subconsciously casing the joint, wanting to find the best way to escape. Strategies danced in my head, how to inflict the fewest numbers of civilian causalities, who was the leader, who was afraid and who'd run like hell when the fight started. Ignoring them, I took a long sip from my coffee, and plotted my getaway.

"Leave 'em alone, boys," the tired waitress protested.

The door to the diner opened with a long shriek of metal on metal. More hippies came in, and the blonde female looked straight into my eyes. She looked confused for a moment, as though she recognized me, and then she motioned to her friends.

She looked familiar, as though I should know her.

"Do you realize that we're talking to you?" The ringleader growled at me.

I took another long sip of my coffee, wincing at the taste and then I looked up at him. In my most insulting tone of voice, I responded, "Do you realize that I'm ignoring you?"

* * *

Samantha Carter

"Sir!" I interjected quickly, grabbing Colonel O'Neill by his arm. "We have to leave." 

"Carter, we've been in that bus for hours, I want something to eat," O'Neill protested.

"What's the problem, Sam?" Daniel questioned.

Thank God for Daniel. Whenever O'Neill got off tangent, Daniel would bring Jack kicking and screaming back to the subject.

"We have to go," I whispered. "Remember George? See that man in the corner? That's **_Jacob_**."

* * *

Jack O'Neill

Shit. Carter's father was sitting in the booth of what apparently was the only diner in the entire state of mass confusion, or wherever the hell we were. He was drinking coffee and he was getting hassled by a bunch of the local yokels. Jake ignored them, until one of them made the mistake of grabbing him by his shirt. Then Carter, Senior, future two Star General, Tok'Ra Host, and whatever else, sucker punched him.

Six guys against Jake.

Have I mentioned recently that I truly _**HATE**_ time travel? It's so difficult keeping track of what I'm allowed to say, and what I'm not. Best response is to pretend that I'm stupid. That way when I do something wrong, everyone can smugly say, "What else do you expect from Jack?"

Right now, I knew that Jake was going to get massacred, and well, we needed him to stay in one piece now, so that he could be dying of cancer in thirty odd years... or something like that. You know that Grandfather thing that Sam keeps nattering about? Something about sleeping with Grandma, and your brother will be born with two heads...I wonder how Selmak would react if suddenly her host disappeared in a Big Pop, because we let Sam's dad get killed by hippies. Knowing the old snake, she'd be pretty pissed and she'd blame me.

Fortunately, Teal'c came to the exact same conclusion, so we decided to help Jake out. Teal'c easily took down several of them, Jake was hitting someone else, and Jake's daughter proceeded to put the very last guy through a window. Carter always was a bit too eager to help her old man out.

The sound of shattering glass brought everyone back to reality. I winced, as that window probably cost more than the money I had shanghaied... ok... STOLEN... from General... Lieutenant... George...

"Carter!" I protested. "You didn't need to put him through the window. A little over zealous, but nice work."

"I didn't put him through the window, she did," Jake retorted. "Speaking of which, I really didn't need your help, ma'am. And how do you know my name?"

"I don't – her name is Carter. Very common name where I come from," I inserted, wishing that Jake wasn't as sharp as he was.

"Look, you gotta go," the waitress inserted. "The police will be coming shortly, and that one that's lying outside the diner? It's the police chief's son. Go."

Michael, Jenny, Teal'c and Daniel raced to the van. Naturally, Carter, as in Carter Junior stayed behind.

My stomach growled, and the waitress glanced at me.

"Growing boy," I explained helpfully.

"Wait," the waitress said. "Let me get you something to eat at least. Bobby?"

The short order cook was busy slicing and dicing something, and a few other waitresses were helping.

"My son served in 'Nam, he didn't come back," she explained to Jacob, who was busy protesting her generosity. The waitress wiped a tear from her eye, and then continued, "Doing it for him, not you."

"Yes, Ma'am," Jake answered. "I'm sorry about the window."

"Planning on replacing it anyway, it leaks when it rains," the waitress continued. "Now get the hell out! Hoodlums!"

The three of us ran out the door, hearing the wail of police cars in the distance and the waitress cursing us for breaking her window. Jake paused for a moment, and then I manhandled him into the van.

"We're not leaving you behind!"

* * *

Jacob Carter

"You can let me out now," I requested, as we sped through another red light. The black man was driving, and he had a heavy foot on the gas.

"Sit back for a bit, rest your feet, have another coke," said the old man who was apparently in charge of the Hippie Brigade. "We can't drop you off just yet."

Strange, he wore a skull cap as though he was trying to hide the length of his hair. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was military length.

"Where are you going, son?" He questioned.

"Home," I stated shortly.

"And that being where?" the man continued.

"New York City, my wife is there with our kids. She's staying with her mother," I explained.

"Just finished a tour?" The man continued.

I gave him a searching look. What business of it was his?

"Two tours. Bad knee. Tet Offensive," he explained as he patted his bad knee. "You have the look of a solider. That's why I helped. Captain James T. Kirk, retired."

He offered his hand. Deliberately, I refused to take it, which earned a shrug of his shoulders.

"My daughter watched that show," I explained.

The blonde woman next to him looked startled at my response.

"Call me Jake, Jimmy," I decided. "You're Carter?"

The woman nodded her head.

"June Carter," Jimmy said helpfully.

"June? June Carter," I repeated. As in June Carter **_Cash_**? All of them with fake names, who the hell was the driver? Cassius Clay?

The blonde nodded again. For some reason, even though she fought like a drunken Marine, she wouldn't say anything to me directly.

"Where's your dulcimer?" I retorted. "Let me guess, the guy with the glasses is Ringo? And Jimmy's driving the van."

"I'm Michael, and this is Jenny," Michael inserted helpfully.

"Jake, today is your lucky day," Jimmy insisted. "We're going to New York, so we'll give you a ride."

The blonde woman wore a look that either said, "Are you CRAZY?" or that the world was about to collapse.

"It'll be fun," he insisted.

* * *

Samantha Carter

My father had hair. Yes, it was in a crew cut, but he had an honest to god, full head of dark, not even a speck of gray, hair. He looked so young!

What was I saying? He **_was_** young. Younger that I was, in fact.

I barely remember my father with hair. Mainly the seemingly spurious rumors of him not being born bald had been confirmed through faded pictures that showed the steady march of time, and the insidious receding of his hairline. All those years, he had been away due to the Air Force, and now, the two of us, in the same van, heading toward New York City.

And I couldn't say anything to him.

I didn't dare.

There were times when I felt him staring at me. His dark eyes were full of unasked questions, as though he thought he should recognize me… I mean… June… I'd look up, and he'd be staring elsewhere. It was nerve-wracking, ulcer inducing even, to see my father in front of me, and not be able to say a single word.

I couldn't.

But I wanted to.

It was almost comical, as the only people that could talk easily to my father were Michael and Jenny. Not Teal'c. Not Daniel. Not any of us.

I believed that my father had pegged O'Neill, Jackson and Teal'c as deserters, heading toward Canada… but that my presence confused him. I wasn't a wife. I wasn't a girlfriend, and the bonds between me and the rest of my team were far deeper than mere familial bonds.

After all, I know from personal experience how family bonds can tear apart so easily.

* * *

Jacob Carter.

June was an enigma, wrapped up in blonde hair and blue eyes. It took me a few hours of circumspect spying to realize why she looked so familiar to me. She looked like my wife, Anne, but somehow, Anne's features had been tempered and changed minutely. Sometimes, I'd watch her, seeing my wife's dazzling smile. Yet, the intensity when she spoke with Kirk was not Anne's passion.

Hers was an almost clinically detached intensity, reminding me of my superior officers, those battle worn and weary men, their boyish intensity tempered by maturity and loss of brothers-in-arms.

She walked like she was in the military.

It was frightening, as June reminded me of myself.

* * *

Daniel Jackson

For whatever whimsical reason, Jack had decided that it was an absolutely wonderful idea to give Jacob a ride to New York City. In spite of, or maybe just because of, the Grandfather Paradox, Jack had loudly and vocally given both middle fingers to the Fates.

**_Go ahead! Make me disappear! I dare you! _**

I think Jack quickly regretted it, because being so close to her father was exhausting Samantha. And Jacob was noticing Samantha's withdrawal, and cataloging it behind an unreadable mask.

The younger Jacob Carter was light years from the Two Star General I would meet… or I had met… years from now. That man had been dying, and his energy had been focused on survival. The younger Jacob had free time, a puzzle in front of him by the name of June Carter, and a mind--frightening to admit--that easily matched Samantha's. He reminded me of nothing more than a dog given a bone, and he'd gnaw at it… for however long it took.

**_We should have dropped him off at the bus station. Any bus station, even a train station. Damn it, Jack! We should have left him at the first Red Light! Hell, we should have thrown him out of the van while it was moving!_**

The Fates hadn't been amused by Jack giving them the double birds, and now that their anger was provoked, there was going to be hell to pay.

The question was… how much of the universe would be left standing after we were done paying for Jack's sense of whimsy?

"So Jacob?" I questioned.

"Yes, Ringo?" Jake answered, his amusement at our continuing insistence to answer to "Ringo, Jimmy, Jimmy and June" evident.

"Do you have any children?" I questioned, after a long silence. My mind had gone completely blank, and that had been the first thing to pop into my mind. "You mentioned a daughter?"

"Boy and a girl," Jake informed me.

"And their names?" I prompted. "Is your son's name Ringo by any chance?"

Jake gave me a look of complete disgust.

"It's a nice name," inserted Jack helpfully. "I had a dog with that name."

Now it was my turn to give Jack a dirty look, to which the bastard had the nerve to give me a big smile and a shrug.

"Mark and Samantha," inserted Jake. "I have pictures."

"Can I see?" Jack asked. "I love looking at pictures."

Jake pulled out his wallet, and he removed several pictures. He stared at one for a long moment, and then he shook his head.

"My wife, Anne. This one is Mark, and this is Sammy," he explained.

"Sammy?" Jack questioned.

"When she was younger, her brother couldn't call her Samantha, so he shortened it to Sammy or Sam," Jake stated. "Sammy's a hell raiser."

"Really?" Jack questioned in a tone of mock sincerity as he looked at the picture of Sam. "She looks so innocent, don't you agree June?"

June smiled weakly and nodded her head.

"She'll go far, if she doesn't kill herself. Annie doesn't like to tell me everything that the little Terror's done, but I'm going to be very surprised if my wife still has blonde hair when I get home. I'm sure you understand, Jimmy, that you learn to read the letters from home very closely. Because between the lines, you find out what's really happening," Jake laughed to himself, and then he handed the pictures to Samantha, "June, would you like to see the rest of them?"

Samantha nodded quietly, and while a stranger might think that Samantha was cool and composed, I knew that she wasn't. The slight tremor in her smile, the brightness of her eyes. This was so difficult for Samantha, and I wondered how I would hold up if I met my parents on this trip. Seeing them, talking to them, but not being able to admit that I was their son.

"This is Anne, if anything ever happened to her, it would kill me," Jake admitted to his daughter. "She's the best thing that happened to me, well, besides those two little terrors. Mark's ok, but the last time I came home, Samantha looked at me with those big baby blues, opened her arms wide for a big hug and then the little brat bit me. Naturally, I screamed, as she had one hell of a bite, and then she started shrieking because I had."

For a moment, I expected Samantha to protest, but instead she was smiling.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it," Sam protested.

"She did, trust me. She knew exactly what she was doing," Jake insisted. "She had this little smirk on her face. Sammy toddled up to me, looking so sweet and innocent, and then the little terror bit me."

Sam laughed, and Jacob gave her a very long look. His lips moved slightly, and I think he said, _"And that very same laugh."_

__

* * *


	2. Part II

**_The Grandfather Paradox _**

_**Synopsis:**_ What happened if Samantha Carter met her own father back in August 1969?

**_Rating:_** PG-13 Swearing!

* * *

Daniel Jackson

We were in big trouble. Jacob Carter knew something was exceedingly bizarre about the four of us, and he was grittily determined to figure out what it was. Like a hound dog that had caught scent of a bird, he was on our trail. Meanwhile, Sam was looming on the verge of a breakdown, stressing out from trying to ascertain WHY we were here, and having to deal with her father. And so our tour of America via Route 66 continued with none of us sure how the hell we were going to get back to our own time.

Jacob has a great wit, I've noticed, if you overlook the fact that Jack has a similar sense of humor. Jake was sliding little dry jabs in, especially toward "June", and Samantha was becoming more and more off balanced.

Finally the four of us, the inadvertent time travelers, had a chance to discuss our situation amongst ourselves while we drank soup around a roaring camp fire. Naturally, I'm proud to say that cooler heads prevailed.

"Jack, you've **_got_** to get Jake off his bus!" I protested. "It's not doing Sam any good to have Jacob on the bus. He knows something's up, and he's going to harass Samantha until he figures it out. So the question is, how do we get him OFF the bus? Do we stop the bus, and left him off? Or do we just open the door and kick him out while the bus is in motion?"

"Well, good for Jake, I'm glad that he knows something's up," O'Neill answered with a wave of his hand. "And perhaps, pray tell, when Jacob figures everything out, maybe he can explain why the hell we're in **_1969 rather than 1999!_** I'm sure Selmak would know, but the snake's not here."

Sam finally perked up, and inserted herself into the conversation, "A flare."

It was the first word she had said all day, but the problem was, we weren't sure what she meant, so Jack asked her to expand on her comment, "**_What_**?"

"That's the only explanation. We had to have been sent back because of a solar flare," Samantha explained.

"Was there not an error in your calculations?" Teal'c questioned.

He wasn't blaming Samantha for what had befallen us, it wasn't his way. But Sam had reconfigured the calculations for our little trip to PX-C3PO or whatever the damn numbers were, before everything had gone royally to hell.

Sam shook her head, "I don't think so, Teal'c. But after the Abydos mission, when we couldn't figure out a way to make the Gate work again, I was asked to research alternative applications for the Gate. Including time travel."

Once again, George Hammond had gone above and beyond trying to get us home. He had set the brightest mind he had onto a problem that probably wouldn't rear its ugly head again for years. I'm sure most people would have been quite happy to dismiss the entire situation out of their mind, saying **_Que sera, sera_**, but not George. He had been living with this secret for thirty years, and he had remembered. Amazing, I really need to thank General Hammond when I get home. Not if, but **_when_**.

I wish he were here; I would enjoy asking him what he felt when the four of us showed up from Abydos after our first mission. Come to think of it, he had been the one who had been extremely persuasive in convincing the higher ups to allow Teal'c to join our team. That would be an excellent philosophical debate with George. Did Teal'c join our team because he already met George? Or had he met George because he had already joined SG-1? Which came first? The Jaffa or the General?

"What'd you come up with?" Jack questioned, interrupting my deep thoughts.

"Well, just this..." Sam paused, before grabbing a stick to scrawl her drawings in the dirt at our feet. "What if a massive solar flare just happened to occur at the exact moment when we were traveling between Earth and another Stargate? If the wormhole itself was redirected closer to the sun because of the Earth's magnetic field, the increased gravity could slingshot us back to Earth."

Damn good hypothesis, but I had one question, "Why haven't we tried this before?"

Naturally, because I hadn't bothered getting an advanced degree in astrophysics, it was a rather simple reason once Sam dumbed it down for both Jack and me. Well, for me anyway. I keep forgetting that Jack knows more about astronomy and the like than he lets on. He doesn't use the telescope at his house for watching his neighbors. Well, not _**only**_ for watching his neighbors.

Sam explained, "Because flares are impossible to predict. Light takes several minutes to travel between the Earth and the sun, so by the time a flare of sufficient magnitude has been confirmed, it's already too late."

Great! We had an idea of how we got here, but now I had to ask the question, "Okay, if they're impossible to predict, how then, do we get ourselves home?"

"August 10th, 9:15 A.M. It's in the note from Hammond," Sam answered confidently. "General Hammond must have used my own research to figure out what we needed. And he looked up two flares in August of 1969 that could send us home. One to prove it, and the second to send us home."

Dear God, if this got us home, I'd be willing to kiss George on the top of his bald dome every time I saw him.

In front of SG-3, even.

Jack was also suitably impressed, "George Hammond, you old son of a---"

A branch cracked, and then we realized that Michael and Jenny had overheard far too much. I let the others converse with our new friends, as I had to figure something out. If Michael and Jenny had overheard us, had Sam's father heard, too? I had to find him...

* * *

Jacob Carter

I was trying to get comfortable on the bus when I had to answer a collect call from Mother Nature. The "squad" as I called the gang of four, was sitting by the campfire, drinking soup and talking amongst themselves. Jenny and Michael were eavesdropping, making enough noise to cover my approach.

Time to be nosy. If I was caught, I could always demonstrate the reason **_why_** I was out of the bus. The best lies always have the ring of truth in them.

Carefully, I listened. I remained unnoticed, even after Michael and Jenny were caught, and I listened to their unbelievable tale.

Another planet? Samantha? Her name was Samantha Carter? Like my daughter? Who, pray tell, was Selmak? Or should I say... what? Solar flares? Traveling from Earth to another world? Stargate? George Hammond? **_General_** George Hammond. 1999?

The only Hammond I knew was a flying buddy of mine. Stationed at Cheyenne Mountain... which was in the general area where Michael and Jenny had picked up these four strangers.

Was that woman, who looked so familiar, in actuality, my daughter? **_Samantha_**?

All my unanswered questions clicked with a loud snap. She looked like Anne, but acted like me. Thirty years down the road, that woman could be my daughter, and George... her C.O.! Good God, Anne would kill me when she found out our daughter had decided to go into the military.

Taking care of what I had come outside for, I quickly returned to the bus. For good measure, I threw my jacket over me, and I pretended to be asleep even while I relived every single word I had overheard between the squad.

It ALL made sense now. If... that is...it was true.

Ringo.... Or should I say, Daniel, came in to check up on me.

"Oh God, Hammond. I hope you know what you're doing," he whispered.

The next morning we had breakfast at a greasy spoon. Jimmy, the big black guy, appeared confused by the term.

"The spoon is clean, it is not greasy," he said to Jimmy.... Jack after he had examined it.

"He's a foreign exchange student at the university. He has some problems with metaphors," Daniel explained.

That started a round of conversation, so I glanced at my watch. I knew what time it was, but I had to put on a show.

"Excuse me, I'm going to call my wife," I explained as I left the table.

Actually, I was going to make a collect call to a certain George Hammond in Colorado.

* * *

Lt. George Hammond

The phone rang, and I groaned. My dear, sweet wife, nestled underneath the bedcovers, displaying the sweetest hints of naked flesh, hit me **_hard_**, which was her way of saying that I had to be the man of the house and answer the damn phone.

"Why does this always happen on the few days I have off?" I asked the uncaring world. "I was going to sleep in today."

I nearly stepped on one of my daughter's toys, meaning that by the time I got to the phone, I was one mean grizzly bear.

"_**HELLO**_?" I hollered. "Do you know what the hell time it is?"

"I have a collect phone call from a Lt. Jacob Carter for you. Will you accept?" The operator said in a patently fake voice.

"Sure!" I growled, as I was planning on giving Carter a ration of shit and then hanging up on him.

"George? It's Jake. Don't hang up on me! I know it's early, but I gotta talk to you," Jake's voice was quiet but intense.

Not a good sign.

"Where the Sam hell are you man? 'Nam?" I questioned.

"No, I'm on leave, making my way home for some R&R with the wife," Jake answered. "But I met some friends of yours, George. Least I think they are. Can I describe 'em to you? They had a note from you, and you had scribbled some dates on it."

My sleepy mind roared to life.

"A blonde woman with a cut on her hand," I answered slowly. "Three men. One Negro, two white?"

"The older one's a little sarcastic?" Jake questioned. "One guy's got glasses...."

"Jake, listen to me. Whatever they need, you're to help them," I interrupted him as he continued to describe them. I trusted Jake like no other, and loved him like a brother. I hoped it would be enough. "It is a matter of utmost importance, and you're to forget you ever dealt with them after you're done. If you give them money, let me know, I'll wire it out to you."

"George..." Jake paused. "This is going to sound like I'm dropping acid, but the blonde... her name is Samantha Carter. Is she **_my_** daughter? From the **_future_**?"

Everything snapped together with a click so loud that I'm surprised that the sound didn't wake the nation.

"Oh my **_GOD_**! That's why she looked so familiar!" I blurted. "She looks like your wife!"

* * *

General George Hammond

"Tok'Ra ID, Sir," Sgt. Davis stated quietly, as he looked up from his dazzling array of computer screens. "It's not SG-1's signal."

"Open the iris," I insisted. "It's probably Jacob as I sent a message to the Tok'Ra. Have him meet me in my office. We're not to be disturbed unless the President arrives, bareback, on a Trident missile, is that understood?"

As I turned to leave the command center, having already anticipated his answer, I saw that Jake was running down from the gate, and he looked worried.

"Damn it, Jake, I've lost your daughter." I thought.

All these years, I had known this day would arrive. Foolishly, even after Teal'c had walked through the Stargate, I had hoped that I had somehow negated the past. Jake and I had never spoken about this day, except for that one time, thirty odd years ago, when he had woken me out of a sound sleep to ask me about the stranger who was his daughter.

* * *

Jake Carter, USAF Retired

**_Calm down, Jacob. It is unseemly that you appear on the verge of panic._**

_SHUT UP SELMAK! This is my daughter we're talking about. Who, I might add, is lost in the past!_

_**Jacob, I understand, but there's nothing we can do to change the past. It's the future, we've got to fix!**_

_I'm glad you convinced the Tollans to let us look at the Quantum Mirror. If it wasn't for the fact that you talked to Narim and mentioned Sammy, I don't think they would have let us look. _

**_We're not supposed to let anyone know that they have one! I'll talk to George, and explain to him what we have to do. That date and time he gave them is going to send them far ahead into the future, Jacob. I'm glad you remembered it so I could calculate their arrival time. The strength of the flare is significantly greater than the first one. If they had left then, they'd be back by now. It is a very bad sign that they're not. This is a key event, Jacob, and I can not stress it enough that the ripples of them disappearing will profoundly affect this world, and the universe! _**

Jake found himself in George's office, and he slammed the door shut. Taking a quick look around to confirm that it was just the three of them, Jake interrupted George in mid-breath.

"George, we've got a big problem. The date and time you gave them has sent them into the future, George. Selmak's pinpointed a date," Jake felt his composure slip, and he gratefully allowed Selmak to come to the fore.

"General Hammond," Selmak stated quietly. "I believe that Captain Carter and the rest of SG-1 are in great peril, as is this planet."

* * *

Jacob Carter

Still more driving in a psychedelic bus, and we were only a day or so from New York City. The conversation with George hadn't given me any relief, if anything, it had made everything worse.

_**Time travel. **_

It was a good thing I had watched Star Trek. "Tomorrow is Yesterday" had been one of my favorite episodes, even though I had laughed at the very idea of time traveling by using the sun's gravity to cause a sling shot effect. Apparently, Gene Roddenberry had been absolutely, positively correct. If I ever saw him, I'd have to apologize.

_**Help them, Jacob. It's important.**_

But how the hell could I?

Most importantly, how to bring it up?

Samantha... JUNE.... My daughter... never talked to me. I hoped it was because she didn't want to unduly influence the space-time continuum, but what if it was, because.... She and I weren't talking in... God help me... 1999. I knew I was a hard ass, and Anne often told me that she only tolerated me because I wasn't around so much. She had been kidding, but yet she hadn't.

In the end, it was almost frighteningly easy to broach the subject. Michael and Jenny had finished dinner early, and the rest of us were still in the diner. Sam was playing with her peas, shuffling them around on her plate, so it would look like she had eaten them. It was Sammy! She **_never_** ate her peas!

In my best fatherly voice, I spoke.

"Samantha Anne Carter, your mother would be furious to know that in spite of being as old as you are, you're still trying to hide the peas on your plate. Eat your peas, young lady!"


	3. Part III

**_The Grandfather Paradox Part III_**

**_Synopsis_:** What would happen if Samantha Carter had met her own father back in August 1969

**_Rating:_** PG-13

* * *

Daniel Jackson

Jacob just called Samantha, **_Samantha Anne Carter_**, and had instructed her to eat her peas in a tone of concerned fatherly censure. Hell, if Jacob had been my dad, I would have asked for seconds. As it was, it had taken every ounce of self control to prevent me from spitting the peas out from my mouth ala Linda Blair. Jake gave the four of us a once over, and the bastard looked quite smug at finding all of looking stunned.

**_How the HELL did he figure it out? He was sleeping in the bus! _**

"Jacob," Sam said slowly, trying in vain, to appear cool, calm and collected, yet distinctly puzzled by Jake's behavior. "I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. My name is **_June_**, not Samantha..."

"Samantha Anne Carter, now you're lying to me. Bad enough that I raised a **_Biter_**, which I will excuse as you were only two years old at the time, but I will not have it said that any child of mine is a **_liar_**," Jacob thundered.

"June," Sam insisted.

"Samantha..." Her father replied.

"JUNE!" Sam repeated louder.

"_**SAMANTHA!"**_

"JUNE!" Sam said, shaking her head in her anxiety.

"Did you change your name? You never told me that you didn't like the name Samantha," Jake reprimanded as he shook his right hand at her, with his index finger extended as though to prove his point. "It's a good decent family name; we named you after your grandmother."

"I like the name..." Sam paused... "But it isn't mine."

I was watching the verbal tennis match between the two Carters, my eyes following the verbal volleys back and forth across the top of the diner table. Even Jack's eyes were going back and forth so quickly that I was surprised that his eyes didn't pop out of his head.

So far, it was 30-love, Jake Carter's favor. Naturally, that's when Jake spiked it over the net with a backhanded serve.

"Captain Carter, I've spoken with someone you may know. Lieutenant George Hammond, I believe you might know him better as **_GENERAL_** George Hammond. I'm supposed to help you, but if you refuse to admit your real name to me, how am I supposed to trust you?"

Jake's eyebrows conveyed stern, paternal disapproval, and I felt like I was three again.

I could just imagine how Sam felt.

Then Jacob dropped the real bomb, "By the way, who's Selmak the snake?"

* * *

Teal'c

Jacob Carter had correctly realized that Samantha Carter was his daughter, and had spoken to General Hammond. General Hammond had trusted Jacob Carter with our situation and he had instructed Jacob Carter to assist.

Therefore, there was nothing to be done, except accept General Hammond's decision.

"Jacob Carter," I interrupted the silence. "You are correct."

O'Neill, Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson all flinched.

"General Hammond has informed you of the situation, therefore I must agree with his decision. We can not talk here though."

I nodded my head once, in acknowledgement of the respect I had for both General Hammond and Jacob Carter. While that respect would be earned numerous years in the future, I believed that they still possessed those traits that I had found admirable.

Jacob Carter nodded his head once, and then he suggested that because of the bad weather for this evening, that we rent hotel rooms for the night.

"We can talk there," Jacob Carter decided, before looking at his daughter. "Don't you agree, **_Samantha_**?"

"Yes, Dad, I do," Samantha admitted.

"Now that is settled, does anyone want dessert?" Jacob Carter questioned.

Sometimes, I fail to understand the Tau'Ri. This was one such occasion, though I must admit that I did enjoy the cherry pie ala mode.

* * *

Samantha Carter

Naturally, I had to share a hotel room with my father. Both Michael and Jenny were giving each other glances, as they knew my father was married, but Dad was being pragmatic. Why pay for four hotel rooms when you could get by with three - Michael and Jenny, Dad and me, and the boys in another room?

"I'm not going to sleep with him, Jenny," I hissed as she looked disapproving! "If he tries anything, I'll break his jaw."

She was a hippie! Wasn't the sixties the era of Free Love?

"Michael will stay with him, and you can stay with me," Jenny offered.

"No, I know we've been cramping your style, so don't worry about me. I've got a good left hook. My dad taught me how to defend myself," I said loudly.

Dad's eyes flickered toward me, and he looked startled, "Did your mother ask him to?"

"No," I said shortly, as Dad had taught me how to defend myself during my senior year in high school, as though he had some how secretly known that I was applying for the Air Force Academy. I had never mentioned it to him, yet he had seemed **_completely_** unsurprised when I had informed him of my acceptance to the academy. One of his technical sergeants, a short Scandinavian, had taught me how to fight dirty. Apparently, Stella had a choice, teach me how to fight dirty or end up in the brig for starting too many fights. Mom hadn't requested it of him, because.... Mom was already dead by then.

**_Please, God, don't let him ask me about Mom or Mark. What could I say? Mom was dead, Mark and he hadn't spoken in years, and for the longest time our relationship had been extremely rocky?_**

The room assignments settled, Jenny and Mike went to their room, and the rest of us ended up in my room. Dad didn't pull any punches. All he wanted to know what he had to do to help us get home, and I was amazed at how easily he became a member of the 'team'. Occasionally, he would put his hand up in silent protest, a gesture that wordlessly said that we were telling him far too much.

Finally, my father stood up from the table, and looked at each of us, "You're going places I don't need to know. I don't want to affect the time line anymore than it has been by this unexpected temporal jaunt of yours. Your game plan is to go to New York, meet someone, and then go from there. If you need my help in anyway, let me know. That's all I'm requesting. Agreed?"

Colonel O'Neill, Daniel and Teal'c all nodded their heads, and then Dad wished them good night. The three of them left the room, and then my father sat down next to me on the couch.

"How are doing, Sammy? You look a little wild-eyed," my father asked.

"I'm a little shaky," I admitted with a wobbly grin, annoyed that my voice had cracked.

"You look like you need a hug," my father said. "Come on."

I'm ashamed to admit that I wept on his shoulder when my father hugged me. It was nice to pretend for a little while that this was nothing more than a bad dream, that I was a little girl, and that my dad would slay the monsters and make everything right again.

"Sammy, Sammy, let it out, kid, let it out," my father repeated softly.

When I was done crying, my father gave me a very odd smile. It was crooked, as though he was smirking.

"What?" I questioned, while I wiped my eyes. "I must look like a mess, I know. I must look rather blotchy."

"You look so much like your mother, Sammy. She must be so proud of how you turned out," the younger version of my father insisted softly. "Wait, I know, I shouldn't say anything or ask any questions, but I look at you, and I realize that you turned out good, kid. Forget your mother, I must be so proud. No doubt, I harass George non-stop about you. Does he even take my calls? Or does he palm them off on his secretary. Good God, Sammy, **_General_** Hammond. When I think of the stunts that he pulled..."

My father laughed and shook his head.

"He won't admit to any," I told him.

"No doubt the statue of limitations hasn't expired," my father laughed dryly. "Do we talk like this, thirty years from now?"

I smiled, unsure how to answer.

"Wait, I know," my father grimaced. "You can't say, can you? If you told me, you'd have to kill me, and wouldn't that screw everything up?"

"I can tell you, Dad, that we had some difficult times when I was a teenager, and you never gave up on me," I confessed.

"And I hope you never gave up on me," my father teased. "Now go to bed, Sammy, it's late."

"Good night, dad," I paused for just a second. "I love you."

My father looked startled yet pleased. "That's the first time you've ever told me that. I love you too, Sammy, even if you bite me, scream at me and even deny your name."

"I'm only five now," I teased.

"No, you're not. I know exactly how old you are, right now, young lady. At least, the Sam that's supposed to be here, not this grown up," my father teased back.

* * *

Jack O'Neill

Carter and Daniel were talking to Catherine, and I was nervous. My pacing seemed to annoy Carter, Senior.

"Must you?" Jacob questioned, as he took a long drag on his cigarette. He was contentedly reading the paper while sitting on a park bench. Teal'c was sitting next to Jacob, admiring the summer weather.

I guess that they don't have parks on Chulak?

"Shouldn't smoke, Dad, that stuff will kill you," I mockingly told him.

"Dad?" Carter Senior questioned, as he threw his half-finished cigarette into the trash can. "You're not married to **_my_** little girl, are you, old man? You better not be, as I'll have to kill you."

"That's Colonel Old Man, Lieutenant," I reminded him.

Jacob Carter stood up, got in my face and smiled, "That's thirty years from now, and don't forget, my buddy **_General_** Hammond can bounce your ass to airman."

There was a look in his dark brown eyes that plainly said that he would enjoy beating the crap out of me if I had done anything with his daughter. All these time I thought Selmak had made Jacob such a pain in the ass, now I know he was always like this... er... that...

"No! Never!" I protested, "Besides, George loves me. I'm his 2IC."

For that answer, I was rewarded with a cocked eyebrow and a long stare from Carter, Senior.

"So are you?" Jacob questioned in a very intense voice.

"If I tell you, I'd have to kill you," I answered easily. "And I'd hate to do that to you... Dad..."

Fortunately before I had to beat Jacob up... ok... before he went after my bad knee, Daniel and Samantha joined us. They looked... elated and defeated.

"We've got to go to Washington," Samantha blurted.

"It's on an airbase," Daniel explained. "I don't know how we'll get in."

Jake coughed, and gave us a bright smile when we turned to face him, "Which one?"

* * *

Jacob Carter

It was almost painfully easy getting into the base. A wire cutter or two, an Allan wrench and a shot from their... ray gun, and they were inside.

"Jacob, you've got to go now. Forget this ever happened to you," Jack reminded me.

"I'll remember, don't you worry, especially if I see you again," I informed him, leaving unsaid, _"Especially if you're marrying my daughter, as I will kill you then_."

Jack being a smart man, heard what I didn't say, and his bright smile faded. Then he turned his back on me, and started walking toward Daniel. It was time to say goodbye to Sam and I wasn't looking forward to it.

"We'll talk about this, later, when we can," I insisted. "After we make sure the time line is secure."

She nodded her head, and the two of us hugged tightly.

"Thanks, Dad," she whispered in my ear.

"Sammy, one question. You're not married to him, are you?" I couldn't help asking.

"NO! Dad! Who told you that?" Samantha protested.

"Just wanted to make sure," I confessed before letting her go.

* * *

Jack O'Neill

"Incoming!" I growled, hating to break up the Father-Daughter send-off. "We've got guards!"

A whole mess of them. I grabbed my handy Zat, and I made quick work of them. Then regretfully, I looked at Teal'c. He nodded once, as he understood what I had to do next.

"I so hope I'm not making a habit of this," I sighed. "This could be career limiting if I keep shooting my superior officers with a Zat. _**JACOB**_!"

Jacob looked at me, and then I nailed him with one zat shot. He looked pissed, and then he collapsed on the ground, his body seizing slightly from the discharge of the zat.

"Colonel!" Samantha protested.

"I'm doing it for his career. Those guards saw him, and this way, he can claim that the space aliens mind-wiped him into helping," I explained.

Teal'c nodded his approval once again, and Daniel shook his head.

"For your sake, I hope George and Jacob never find out that you Zatted both of them. They'll come up with something really evil for retribution," Daniel said cheerfully. "Well, least I don't have to worry about that."

"Nor I, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated solemnly.

"Dad wouldn't do anything to me, and well, General Hammond likes me," Samantha stated in a very jolly tone of voice.

My team was deserting me, leaving me to the clutches of two, two star generals and a Snake! Selmak, no doubt, would delight in helping Jacob come up with something truly remarkable as my punishment.

"Aren't you coming, Jack?" Daniel asked as he walked toward the warehouse.

"No, I think I'll stay here. It's much safer here," I protested.


	4. Part IV

**_The Grandfather Paradox Part V_**

**_Synopsis:_** And now our conclusion.

**_Rating: PG-13_** - Jake, Sel curse!

* * *

General George Hammond.

Jacob laughed dryly and shook his head, "So he zatted you also?"

"Wanted to save my career," I drawled. "He gave you that same line of crap, did he?"

"Yeah, right," Jake growled. "When I met him at the Award Ceremony, I wasn't sure it was him. It's been more than thirty years, George. Though according to Selmak, it's been a lot more than thirty years."

"Will Selmak tell you what's going on?" I questioned.

"No, she's being difficult. Sel keeps repeating, "If I tell you, I'd have to kill you." Then she makes comments about how she's finished breaking me in as her host, and that she doesn't want to have to go through that again for a few hundred more years." Jake sighed and then leaned back in his chair. "She sounds like she's housebreaking a puppy."

Jacob paused, and then his face turned dark at an unheard comment from his symbiote.

"Oh, so a puppy is cuter than me, Selmak? I'll **_remember_** that!"

"Selmak's worried, Jacob?"

I knew Jacob very well, so I could hear what he wasn't saying. He was deeply concerned, and his new... soul mate... Selmak... was sharing his unease. That explained the constant banter between the two of them, as that was how Jake reacted to stressful situations.

"Yes, she saw something on the Tollan quantum mirror. Sel did something to the mirror that surprised the hell out of the Tollans. It normally shows the same time, in each different reality. Somehow, Selmak fast forwarded it. She took over the body then, completely, and I don't know what she saw. But from what she's let slipped, you and I are going to be involved in getting them home."

"And we'll never know what we did, will we?" I questioned.

"No." Jacob said. "Not if it works, and I think whatever Selmak saw, truly frightened her."

"Maybe we'll get her drunk one day, and she'll tell us." I pondered for just a moment. "But how do you get a symbiote drunk, Jacob?"

Jake clapped his hands, and then waved them to express his complete befuddlement. "I have no idea."

* * *

Jack O'Neill

I checked my watch again. The trucks were revving, the Stargate was being powered, and I knew we had to be exact in our leap. Yes, **_leap_**, as the last few days had felt like a really bad episode of "Quantum Leap".

"Ready?" I roared over the engines.

"One more minute," Samantha protested, as she checked her watch. "On my mark... one.... Two.... Three...."

The four of us ran into the puddle, and I felt the familiar disorientation of using the Stargate. Normally, I wasn't aware of the time passing when we gated, but now, I did.

_**There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home. **_

Was it taking longer? The cold was seeping in my bones, stealing my breath even as my knees began throbbing in time to my racing pulse.

Something had gone wrong.

Again.

I fell onto the ramp, shaking.

"Cold... cold... "My teeth were chattering loud enough to be heard in Hoboken.

"Jack," Daniel said in a very quiet whisper. "We're not home. I really hope that we're not home, because if we are home, we've just destroyed the time line."

"Bow before your God!" screamed an unfamiliar voice.

_**Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.**_

The staff weapon slammed into my ribs, and I found myself kneeling with the help of a few Jaffa. They pulled my head up by yanking on my hair, and I found myself viewing something that looked suspiciously like a walking carpet. The walking carpet was staring at Teal'c and he seemed... amused... well... as amused as a walking, talking carpet could be.

"What is this? He wears the crest of Apophis? **_Fool_**, hasn't anyone informed you that Apophis has been dead for centuries?"

* * *

Two men with no particular place to go, awaiting an appointment made several hundred years ago.

"They're here," I said to my partner, and then I glanced down to his knee that was swaddled in bloody bandages and braced by the broken halves of a staff weapon. "How's the knee?"

"Hurts," he admitted shortly. Even though his cowl hid his face, I could imagine how much pain he was in. Admitting that he was hurting meant that he was in a hell of a lot of pain, as when you looked up stoic, you saw a picture of him. "Doing what he can, but he keeps reminding me that it will take time to repair the damage."

"They're not good at replacing legs, but once this is over, we'll see if he can actually grow you a brand new leg."

"If this works, we won't have to worry about my leg," he retorted. "This bastardized time line will be prevented from ever being whelped."

"From your ears to whatever god's listening," I responded, then paused due to an unspoken comment. "It's time. She says they should be in the cells now, and you and I have to get them out."

"Any suggestions?"

"You know she doesn't have any. The further she went down this time line, the murkier everything got, and the Tollans aren't around anymore, so we can't ask to view their magic 8 ball. The Asgard are gone and the Nox were slaughtered while they passively sat in a circle and sang. No one's seen a Furling in so long, we wouldn't recognize one if we tripped over its eight legged body. There's nobody left but us. Two old men that should have died centuries ago, and two headsnakes who deserve not to die on this asinine mission."

His partner snorted softly.

"It's a good day to die, Carter," was all George said.

"Yes, and we've been waiting for over three hundred years for this."

I didn't say anything else, but because... what else could be said?

How does one use mere words to describe a pact made between three friends, conceived on that horrible day when my daughter never returned from the past? George had lost his family and his past, after he had agreed to become a Tok'Ra host. For years, he had watched them from afar, until one day, overwhelmed by his personal sacrifices, he had stopped. He had almost lost his soul, watching helplessly as the Goa'uld attacked... no ... annihilated Earth, knowing that his great-grandchildren and their children were among the first slaughtered. The Goa'uld not content in their victory had poisoned the wells and salted the Earth, and George and I had watched, two ancient men, alone, and adrift in a future that Selmak said should not have happened.

For the want of a screw, the kingdom was lost...

For the want of SG-1, our galaxy had been lost....

_**Dear God, please let this be the right thing to do. I couldn't live with myself... if I had caused the horrors I have lived through these last three hundred years. **_

* * *

Jacob Carter

The pain in his leg was increasing, as he was gasping each time he took a step. Being stubborn as a Texas Bull, he refused to accept my assistance. I cursed under my breath, wondering why two very old men had to save the universe.

_Selmak, can't Lantesh help George with the pain?_

**_Lantesh is doing everything thing he can to keep George alive. As am I, Jacob. Both of you have been severely wounded. It is remarkable that Lantesh and I were even able to bring you two back from near death, Jacob! _**

_Well. It was a gamble, talking to Yu. We knew that there was a possibility that things would go badly..._

**_Yu's insane, Jacob. He hung George upside down and threatened to gut him!_**

_Really? I didn't notice the foam flowing from his mouth or the fact that he was gnawing on the leg of his throne while his First Prime, Oshu, did all the talking._

**_Oshu believes that if we do this, we might be able to kill Anubis, allowing Yu's troops to conquer. Then Yu will die, unexpectedly, and Oshu will be the new God of the universe. And the two annoying Tok'Ra will no doubt be quite dead._**

_Won't he be surprised when he wakes up and realizes that something's gone horribly wrong! I'd love to see his face then!_

**_Jacob, I always admired your delightful sense of humor. You have made me laugh during our years together. Thank you._**

_And you saved my six more times than I can count._

_**3,492 times to be exact. **_

I laughed to myself, and then I gestured quickly at George. George nodded once, and then we unwrapped the very volatile explosives. Deliberately we began placing a unit there, another block there.

"George, you can you move any faster?" I questioned, though hating myself for asking.

_He can not_, Lantesh answered for his host.

I nodded my head in apology, hoping that George knew that I had regretted asking.

"Jake?" George gasped. "I think it's time that we blow this taco stand."

"Sky high!" I answered.

* * *

Daniel Jackson

The four of us were in the SGC, surrounded by Jaffa. And, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear that we were sitting in Samantha's old lab. It was on the same level, and the room was the fifth door on the left.

"Something's gone wrong," I winced the minute I heard the words pour out of my mouth.

**_Yes! Daniel Jackson! Rocket Scientist! State the obvious why don't you?_**

"Ya think?" O'Neill retorted. "Do we have any idea where we are? And When?"

"It appears to be the SGC, Sir," Samantha answered easily. Then her tone faltered, "As for when? I'm not sure."

"It is at least 2199," Teal'c inserted. "Apophis was alive in 1969, and it has been at least two hundreds years since he was killed. The Jaffa mocked me for wearing the symbol of a long-dead False God."

"Ok, so Apophis is dead and I didn't go to the funeral. Darn. I would have sent flowers at least. But who's the walking carpet?" O'Neill questioned. "The Egyptian god of Carpets?"

I was about to say that I didn't know, when I felt the building shudder. Cheyenne Mountain was literally buckling under my feet. Alarms went off, and I heard the sounds of screaming. Our guards fled down the hallway, and I have to admit that I was really very, very confused.

"Earthquake? Sam, do they have earthquakes in Colorado? Are we being attacked?"

That's when the door to the room opened again, and two robed figures staggered into the room. Yes, they staggered. Teal'c saw the opportunity to escape so he attempted to hit one of them. He got whacked across the head by a staff weapons for his trouble, even while one figure sprouted off a fluent curse in Goa'uld. Then he began talking exceeding fast to Teal'c, who looked puzzled. Teal'c put his arm down, and then my friend turned to look at me.

"Daniel Jackson? How can this be?" He questioned.

"Daniel? For those of us who don't speak Goa'uld?" O'Neill questioned loudly.

"It's... your father, Sam.... And General Hammond. They're here to rescue us." I turned to face Samantha and Jack, and I shook their head. "They said that they've been waiting for over three hundred years."

"Dad?" Samantha gasped.

The man that had cursed in Goa'uld, then uncovered his face. His partner did the same.

Oh my God, it was Jacob and George. But both men were old and haggard, their lines faces marred with livid scars and burns and displaying numerous half-healed bruises and cuts, but what surprised me most was that both men's eyes were full of hopelessness. I had seen Hammond appear discouraged, but I had never seen him look defeated before...

"Yes, George and I are attempting to get you home," her father said in an emotionless voice. "The time line split when you didn't return from 1969. George, Selmak, George's symbiote Lantesh ..."

Jack O'Neill mouthed, "symbiote?" and I nodded my head to confirm that he had heard correctly.

"And I vowed to thwart this bastardized time line from ever occurring. It's been three hundred years of hell..."

* * *

Jacob Carter

"Here's your weapons. We have a little distraction occurring right now. Yu is attacking the base," I explained.

"You are?" O'Neill questioned.

"No ... _Yu_..." I answered quickly, even as I distributed the Zats.

"I am?" O'Neill asked again.

"George, I forgot what he was like," I snarled to George, who had the nerve to laugh. "Yu got us into the building, now it's time to get you out of the building. We planted a lot of heavy explosives and Yu will be taking advantage of the confusion."

"We will?" Samantha blurted.

"Will you all please stop yammering about Yu? Yu, Yu, Yu! It's all about _**Yu**_! Ok? We've got to get you to the Gate room, so we can send you home. Teal'c, you're going to have to help George, as that leg of his will slow us down," I snapped. "George, time?"

"Four minutes, thirty two seconds," George answered. "Look, I'll stay behind, don't you worry about me. I'll cover your tail."

"Not acceptable," I snapped. "Let's go people; you've got a date with destiny. I just hope we can trust Yu."

* * *

Samantha Carter

My father and General Hammond had met us and were trying to send us home. I had a thousand and one questions to answer the stranger that wore my father's face, but my father kept telling me to run faster.

"Teal'c, can you carry George?" My father growled over Hammond's protests.

The general was easily picked up and positioned piggy back on Teal'c back. That movement caused George to curse fervently, and my father shook his head when he saw the fresh blood staining George's heavily wrapped knee.

"Holy Hannah, George, I know that hurt, but we've got to move. I'm not leaving you behind, not now. Old friend, we've come too far to let you die alone! Hurry!"

And so we ran toward the Gate Room even as Hammond continued to sear. We turned the corner to find us surrounded by numerous Jaffa. Their staff weapons were opened and ready to fire.

"Oshu Kree!"

Hammond was yelling in Goa'uld toward an Oriental that had the golden badge of a First Prime, and my father was motioning for us to continue forward.

"Jacob, there are Goa'uld there," O'Neill pointed out helpfully.

"They're on our side, unless Oshu's a Hassak," my father retorted.

The Oriental Prime nodded his head once, "It will be as we agreed upon. Though once my Master's forces have conquered Anubis, we will hunt you down like the dogs you are."

"Good hunting," my father snapped. "While I'd love to stay and chat, we've got to go. Come on!"

* * *

Jacob Carter

We entered the Gate Room with only a few moments to spare. Selmak took control of our body, and she began entering the coordinates into the DHD that she had modified just for this adventure. It was small enough so I could wear it on my wrist, yet capable of confirming the correct time flux to send my daughter home. It was the achievement of a lifetime, the culmination of an entire race's temporal knowledge in a small chip.

Too bad only Selmak and Lantesh were left of the Tok'Ra. I guess that meant that they weren't going to have a Version 2.0 any time soon.

"Dad?" Samantha asked, obviously confused about what the hell was happening.

"Samantha, get ready. When Selmak tells you to go, GO. You got your GDO?" Hammond questioned, from Teal'c back.

My daughter nodded her head,

"Ok, it's programmed," I announced loudly over the sound of the puddle ka-wooshing. "Ten seconds, people."

Looking at George, I nodded my head. We would enter the Gate with them, but if we had fixed the problem in the time line, we wouldn't re-molecularize in the SGC. We would have disappeared, and everything would be back to the way it was supposed to be.

Perhaps Earth wouldn't fall to the Goa'uld.

**_Please, God. After all these years, please let this be the right thing to do. _**

"FIVE," George announced.

"Four... three...," I stated as we walked toward the open wormhole. "Two.... One..."

I grabbed Samantha's hand tightly as she walked toward the gate, and I squeezed it hard, hoping that she'd understand why George and I had done this.

* * *

Samantha Carter

"There's no place like home," I whispered. "There's no place like home. There's no place like home..."

My father grabbed my hand securely before we entered the wormhole. Clutching his hand just as tightly, I expected to be holding his hand once we re-molecularized. Instead, during our extended trip through the wormhole, I felt his hand slip from mine, as though his corporeal body had turned to moonbeam and starlight.

We landed with our usual grace on the ramp. Yes, we smacked down face first on the ramp, and proceeded to roll the entire way down. It took me a moment to realize that the injured Hammond was not with us as I was searching for my father.

"Jacob, George!" O'Neill crowed as he realized we were home. "You sons of a gun, you got us... Where are they?"

Teal'c looked impassively from where he had landed. His clothing that had been stained with General Hammond's doppelganger's blood was now bloodfree.

It was Daniel who managed to put everything into perspective.

"They changed the time line," Daniel whispered. "They waited for us for three hundred years and they changed the time line. I don't think they exist anymore, and they knew it was going to happen."

Daniel stopped long enough to remove his eye glasses, and wipe his eyes.

"They did it anyway."

* * *

Samantha Carter

Infirmary

"And you were there, Auntie Em," Jack pointed to my father, who had the grace to look annoyed. "No. But it wasn't a dream -- it was a place. And you -- and you -- and you -- and you were there."

Colonel O'Neill pointed to Hammond, then Teal'c, then Daniel and then me, as he continued quoting "The Wizard of Oz."

George Hammond gave my father a long suffering look. "I don't think the ruby slippers are part of the BDUs."

"He's talking crazy, George, like he always does. Let Dr. Frazier check them out, thoroughly, debrief the hell outta then..." my father drawled. "Then you and I will go out drinking. Let's see if we can get Selmak drunk. The old girl has some explaining to do, I believe."

"I just love getting that little flash light in my eye. Do you think you can get it any closer, so you can knock my eye out?" Jack continued to protest as Janet Frasier pushed him back down onto the bed. "And the thermometer! That's the best part, I'd hate for you to forget that. What do you mean by it's time for me to drop my drawers? What? That's new! It doesn't normally go there!"

My father quickly pulled the curtain shut and winked at me even as Colonel O'Neill continued to squawk.

"There are some things even a strong man can't view," he stated dryly. "Sam, get yourself checked out, and whatever you do, don't act like that, please. It'll embarrass me."

I laughed, and agreed.

"I want some jello though! Blue!" I called after him, as he and General Hammond were leaving the room.

* * *

Jacob Carter

I sat down in a chair, and recklessly, I put my feet on top of his desk. George's eyes were amused, and he did the same thing. Just like old times, when we were both J.O.'s and we had shared a shift.

"So... Selmak thinks we changed the time line, as they wouldn't be here," I informed George. "She's really rather please with herself, which means that she'll be insufferable for days."

"The Grandfather Paradox," George drawled while he shook his head. "Well, we haven't disappeared, so I have to agree that it worked out."

"The only grandfather paradox I'm concerned about now is since you, Sel and I apparently saved Samantha and the rest of SG-1, does that mean I'm going to have more grandkids?"


End file.
